Mayor Daley on the middle-class in Chicago

The same day that school vouchers passed through the Illinois Senate, they also approved legislation to allow Chicago Public School teachers to live outside of Chicago's city limits. Our mayor had this to say about this issue:

"Go to Detroit, St. Louis, the rest of ‘em. When they allow government employees to live outside the city, they lose all their middle-class," the mayor told reporters after a City Council meeting.

"If you say government employees don’t have to live here, I guess maybe elected officials don’t have to live here, too. You could start a trend. I don’t have to live in the ward. I don't have to live in the city. I can work on a contract. I firmly believe that is the essence of keeping neighborhoods strong."

And what would happen if Chicago lost its middle-class tax base?

"In other cities, they put a city income tax on it. I don’t believe in city income taxes,” the mayor said.

I got wind of this article via Newsalert but Joe Zekas at YoChicago calls Daley's quote, "Unbelievable!"

So then we should ask if being middle-class means that you must be a government employee? That or as Newsalert suggests a middle-class of government workers in the city is a strong patronage army.

Would Chicago's middle-class drop off because city public school teachers (for now at least) were no longer forced to live in Chicago?